AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Sprint have all acknowledged cellular outages. Wireline services are also being disrupted. Verizon (the non-wireless part of the company) has acknowledged loss in service for FiOS voice, Internet, and video, as well as non-FiOS Internet and phone services.

AT&T said in a statement sent to Ars: “As we continue to closely monitor our wireline and wireless networks for service disruptions, we are experiencing some issues in areas heavily impacted by the storm. We are in the initial stages of performing an on-the-ground assessment of our network for damage, and crews will be working around the clock to restore service. We are deploying personnel and equipment as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Sprint Nextel reported power outages disrupted cellular service in parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Maryland, North Virginia, and New England according to Reuters. T-Mobile said its “customers may be experiencing service disruptions or an inability to access service in some areas, especially those that were hardest hit by the storm.” Cablevision acknowledged widespread service disruptions due to power loss, while some Comcast and Time Warner also confirmed service problems.

According to Reuters, Verizon Wireless "said on Tuesday afternoon that customers may be experiencing service issues and that about 94 percent of its cell sites were up and running." Ars has contacted Verizon Wireless and is waiting to hear back.

Verizon’s wireline problems in New York sound like they may be more severe than its wireless ones, as detailed in a note to customers describing disruptions to Internet, phone, and TV services.

“The storm surge from Hurricane Sandy has resulted in flooding at several Verizon Central Offices in Lower Manhattan, Queens, and Long Island causing power failures and rendering back-up power systems at these sites inoperable,” Verizon said. “While these sites are currently on battery power, the inevitable loss of power requires that all equipment at these sites be powered down to prevent damage. Customers that are served by these central offices will experience a loss of all services including FiOS (voice, Internet, video), high speed Internet, and telephone services. Some customers may experience intermittent busy signals while attempting to dial 311 service for non-emergency calls.”

Additionally, call volume has increased because of the storm, overloading the network. Thus, some Verizon customers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast may be told “All circuits are busy" or "Your call cannot be completed at this time" when trying to make phone calls.

When trying to communicate during an emergency, the Federal Communications Commission advises trying a variety of communication methods in case one is unavailable. For instance, try text messaging instead of calling, as texts will often go through even when cellular calls will not.

A bit off topic but still relevant to the conversation in a tangential way, forgive me. Since the City of Chattanooga built of fiber though it's Electric Power Board and started treating data like a utility, I've found that I like the concept very much. While the service has been rock solid for years it did go down for a couple days due to major storm system dismantling some local infrastructure with the applied use of tornadoes. Shortly thereafter I received a notice in the mail to that effect and the Power Board prorated my bill to reflect that downtime. In other words, they refunded me money for the time I didn't have internet connectivity. Have there been any instances where these for profit corporations would even consider such a thing?

this is why I still have plain old copper line to the house alongside my smartphones

Based on this article, that wouldn't necessarily save you. If the telco's backup power is dead, they don't have a utility feed, and their battery banks get used up, you will loose dial tone.

During the derecho earlier this summer, the copper line was the only thing still working with power outage across all of VA/MD/DC area. Sure, if the Telco contingency plan fails, I will lose my landline too, but that's a more remote possibility comparative to me losing power in my area. And also a pertinent note, my neighbor who got triple play with FIOS, had his phone on FIOS which went dead because the backup battery that Verizon provided each customer using FIOS phone service only lasts a few hours. The power outage from the derecho lasted 4 days.

Also interesting to note, my landline was still operating when my neighbor's internet/IP phone stopped working (prior to running out of battery).

A bit off topic but still relevant to the conversation in a tangential way, forgive me. Since the City of Chattanooga built of fiber though it's Electric Power Board and started treating data like a utility, I've found that I like the concept very much. While the service has been rock solid for years it did go down for a couple days due to major storm system dismantling some local infrastructure with the applied use of tornadoes. Shortly thereafter I received a notice in the mail to that effect and the Power Board prorated my bill to reflect that downtime. In other words, they refunded me money for the time I didn't have internet connectivity. Have there been any instances where these for profit corporations would even consider such a thing?

Edit: In before Grammar Nazi (effect, not affect)

If your service is out for more than 24hrs virtually every company will give you a prorated amount to reflect downtime. In most cases this is even in the service agreement.

this is why I still have plain old copper line to the house alongside my smartphones

Based on this article, that wouldn't necessarily save you. If the telco's backup power is dead, they don't have a utility feed, and their battery banks get used up, you will loose dial tone.

I live in south florida, tropical storms & cat1/2hurricanes are nothing worth mentioning & rainy day is more disruptive lol. cat 3 can make localized messes, 4+'s will make a big mess. After a major storm (our most recent one was wilma around the time of katrina [which mussed us], before that I can't recall), we have a great system of canals to take care of drainage, but hurricanes typically dump less water than our normal rainstorm. Landlines of any sort (cable POTs/electricity, etc) are usually localized depending on luck (lots of it runs underground). cell towers & everything else is above ground, because south in florida below ground=pool where you can dig & hit water after a few/several inches & a normal rainstorm is measurable in inches of rainfall (yearly average is like 5 feet+)

Cell towers are generally pretty functional after a storm, a major 4+ one that takes out power everywhere will still have them working for several days before getting real hit or miss/spotty my experience. Northerners that point & say "HAHA serves you right for living there", northern power companies bring their shit down here & work with the local power company to erect poles/wires/etc where necessary because they have tons of experience doing it after blizzards take their shit out every winter . The biggest communication trouble after wilma was the fact that gas stations couldn't pump gas without power, they are now required by law to have a generator & believe. POTS is a crapshoot depending on if as tree branch was thrown through something vital to your area or not, it's about as stable as cell service considering it' not portable

In general, we are used to hurricanes & just continue on unimpeded due to experience & regular preparation. It's when they hit other parts of the country that they regularly become massive problems. If you don't have regular & easily predictable hurricanes, you have problems like unpredictable tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, forest fires encroaching on where people live, blizzards, etc. Regular hurricanes are a pretty minor inconvenience when everyone is prepared months ahead . Believe it or not, walmart tends to be great post major hurricane & brings in generator trucks to the superwalmarts regularly in my experience

I'm pretty sure that when the central office your phone connects to floods and backup power fails you're SOL no matter what kind of line you have.

In the case of a telecom, you can bet they'll be on top of that in a heartbeat, too. Telecoms face massive fines for every minute POTS is down.

I'm sure the FCC takes into consideration the nature of POTS outages. If all your stuff is under water and the majority of the customers that stuff serves are either under water or no longer in that location (i.e. evacuated) there isn't much you can do about that, massive fines or no.

And as an aside: Why are the backup generators in basements of tall buildings? And in the few that appear to have thought ahead at least that far, why is the fuel with the pumps needed to get that fuel to the backup generators stored in the basement even when the generators themselves are higher up? Wouldn't it make more sense to put those things as high up as you can get them?

A bit off topic but still relevant to the conversation in a tangential way, forgive me. Since the City of Chattanooga built of fiber though it's Electric Power Board and started treating data like a utility, I've found that I like the concept very much. While the service has been rock solid for years it did go down for a couple days due to major storm system dismantling some local infrastructure with the applied use of tornadoes. Shortly thereafter I received a notice in the mail to that effect and the Power Board prorated my bill to reflect that downtime. In other words, they refunded me money for the time I didn't have internet connectivity. Have there been any instances where these for profit corporations would even consider such a thing?

Edit: In before Grammar Nazi (effect, not affect)

If your service is out for more than 24hrs virtually every company will give you a prorated amount to reflect downtime. In most cases this is even in the service agreement.

True. I suppose my takeaway was that I received a separate letter, addressed to me, that took the time to explain the situation and how they were addressing it. It seemed to me very personal and reflected how community based services are much more personable, in this case at least, than a faceless conglomerate who's interests fall more in line with share holders than their customer base.

why is the fuel with the pumps needed to get that fuel to the backup generators stored in the basement even when the generators themselves are higher up? Wouldn't it make more sense to put those things as high up as you can get them?

I imagine the rent on the office directly below the fuel tanks gets a slight discount for the occasional leaks.

(Seriously, though, there are plenty of safety and fuel-handling reasons why you want it down low. A better question is why aren't the fuel tanks in water-tight vaults, but I suspect there are other factors besides direct flooding that are contributing to the problems.)

<snip>And as an aside: Why are the backup generators in basements of tall buildings? And in the few that appear to have thought ahead at least that far, why is the fuel with the pumps needed to get that fuel to the backup generators stored in the basement even when the generators themselves are higher up? Wouldn't it make more sense to put those things as high up as you can get them?

Cost vs. risk I would think. The main power transformers in building are usually that way too. It's costly to build out space that could otherwise be productive in areas that could be better served with revenue generating equipment/people. Contingency equipment can be costly, take up quite a bit of space, and be a logistical nightmare as far as codes go in spaces occupied by tenants. Storing 10,000 gallons of fuel on the 5th floor of a building, or for that matter the 50th floor or so, is inherently dangerous I would think.

Have there been any instances where these for profit corporations would even consider such a thing?

<let me smoke on the pipe of all gubment is good and big bad bidness is big and bad>... I have received refunds for down service from Comcast and other non-gubment entities...<\guess the hate business stuff you're smokin' isn't working on me>

DescriptionScan, Print, Fax, Download and Store Microsoft Office, PDF and Text Documents and images. This app turns your iPhone or iPad into a Handy Scanner, Fax, File Storage or an Air Printer in your pocket. It lets you scan high quality multi-page documents, print it to any AirPrint capable printer in your wifi network, email it or save it to a document folder on your device, post it to Google Docs or fax it to any fax number, directly from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. A highly useful app designed for individual or businesses use. Downloading link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scan-to ... ?ls=1&mt=8